set_uformat (3) - Linux Manuals

set_uformat: Set the global current text encoding format. Allegro game programming library.

NAME

set_uformat - Set the global current text encoding format. Allegro game programming library.

SYNOPSIS

#include <allegro.h>

void set_uformat(int type);

DESCRIPTION

Sets the current text encoding format. This will affect all parts of Allegro, wherever you see a function that returns a char *, or takes a char * as a parameter. `type' should be one of these values:

   U_ASCII     - fixed size, 8-bit ASCII characters
   U_ASCII_CP  - alternative 8-bit codepage (see set_ucodepage())
   U_UNICODE   - fixed size, 16-bit Unicode characters
   U_UTF8      - variable size, UTF-8 format Unicode characters
   

Although you can change the text format on the fly, this is not a good idea. Many strings, for example the names of your hardware drivers and any language translations, are loaded when you call allegro_init(), so if you change the encoding format after this, they will be in the wrong format, and things will not work properly. Generally you should only call set_uformat() once, before allegro_init(), and then leave it on the same setting for the duration of your program.